Chapter IX
Only a few hours later, the sound of raised voices woke the family from their slumber.
Elizabeth had wondered if she would find sleep at all that night, only to wake bleary and disoriented.
When she gained the use of her senses, she could hear two voices, but what snapped her to full consciousness was that one of them belonged to Lydia.
Rising from her bed, Elizabeth took the robe she had draped over her chair the previous night and shrugged it on, tying it at her waist. Then she opened the door and stepped into the hall, where a surprising sight met her eyes.
Down the hall toward her youngest sisters’ rooms, she could see two struggling figures, the voices identifying them as Kitty and Lydia.
“No, Lydia, I shall not allow it! This is madness!”
“Kitty!” insisted Lydia, though she kept her voice low in a vain attempt to avoid drawing attention. “Let me go.”
By this time, other doors opened, Elizabeth’s sisters and mother looking on the scene with expressions ranging from shock to horror. Elizabeth did not stand still—she stepped into the quarrel and forced her youngest and foolish sister to face her.
“Lydia! What are you doing?”
“Be silent, Lizzy!” screeched Lydia, all pretense of restraint now gone. “If you had not betrayed him, I would not need to warn him of the danger.”
“That is enough, all of you,” came the voice of her father.
It was just in time, for Elizabeth was moments away from striking her sister.
“Mrs. Bennet, get a candle, please.”
Mrs. Bennet darted into her chambers as Mr. Bennet stepped forward, his eyes finding his youngest daughter in the dim hall. Though there was little light, Elizabeth saw enough to notice her father’s eyes narrowing. Lydia would not meet his gaze.
“Lydia,” said he, as Mrs. Bennet hurried up behind him holding a candle, “were you leaving for an assignation with Mr. Wickham?”
The girl’s eyes widened, and she stammered denials. “N-No, Papa!” It was little more than a squeak. “Mr. Wickham has no notion that I will go to Meryton.”
“You will not go to Meryton,” replied Mr. Bennet, allowing for no contradiction. “What I wish to know is what you were thinking.”
Lydia turned sullen and would not meet his eyes. Mr. Bennet watched her critically, observing her state.
“You are dressed to be out of doors, but I do not see a bag or a trunk.”
“There is no assignation,” repeated Lydia, this time a little stronger.
“Then what were you doing?” demanded Mr. Bennet.
Lydia squirmed, but she could not refuse the direct question. “Mr. Wickham needs someone on his side—I merely meant to go to Meryton and warn him of the danger.”
“You foolish girl!” snapped Elizabeth in an explosion of temper. “Walk to Meryton in the middle of the night to warn a libertine against consequences he deserves? I have never heard of anything more foolish.”
“If you had not attacked him, I would not need to take such drastic measures!” hissed Lydia. “I do not accept that he is a libertine—Mr. Darcy has always hated him.”
“Then why did you not wait for the morrow, see if Papa could discover any improper debts?” demanded Elizabeth. “Because you are silly and stupid!”
Lydia growled, but Elizabeth would not allow her to speak. “If you had succeeded, it would be difficult to gain entrance to Mr. Wickham, and even if you had, would you protect him against his own actions?”
“He is innocent!”
“You do not know that!” spat Elizabeth. “Tomorrow will tell the truth. All you can see is a handsome face and pretty manners. What sort of idiocy provokes a girl of fifteen to throw her reputation and her safety on the mercy of a man of suspect morals?”
Mrs. Bennet gasped, but Elizabeth ignored her, as did her father.
“Lizzy is correct,” said Mr. Bennet. “Had you gained access to Mr. Wickham, what do you suppose he might have done?”
“Fled from the unjust accusations against him!” cried Lydia.
“Whether they are unjust remains to be seen,” replied Mr. Bennet. “What if he attempted to force you to go with him wherever he went?”
Lydia blanched, proving she understood something of how a woman’s reputation could be ruined, but she recovered at once. “He would never!”
“On the contrary,” replied Mr. Bennet, “I suspect he would. We will never know, for you shall not leave the house. If I must confine you to your room until you are thirty, I will do it to keep you safe.”
Though Lydia looked at her father with horror, Mr. Bennet paid her no attention. His glance took in all his other daughters, standing nearby, watching the scene.
“It looks like none of the rest of you were involved with this folly.”
That his thoughts were on Kitty was clear, but Elizabeth stepped in to defend the sister who had surprised her of late. “It was Kitty who prevented her from leaving, Papa.”
Mr. Bennet’s visage softened. “It appears we have you to thank for preventing this disaster, Kitty.”
Though she blushed at his praise, Kitty raised her chin. “I suspected she might do something like this, Papa. I stayed awake when I heard her moving in her bedchamber long after the rest of the house fell silent.”
“Yes, Lizzy has told me of your perspicacity of late, Kitty. Well done, indeed.”
Though Kitty blushed anew, Lydia threw a hateful glare at her sister. Mr. Bennet noted this and decided it was time to end the nighttime confrontation.
“It is time that we return to our chambers.” He turned to his wife. “Mrs. Bennet, ring for Mrs. Hill. We will station John by Lydia’s door for the rest of the night. That should keep her from any more nocturnal adventures.
“And not a word from you, Lydia,” instructed Mr. Bennet, seeing the girl’s barely restrained fury.
“Though I shall not address this matter tonight, you should know that there will be consequences for this silliness. Do not suppose you have escaped them. Now, return to your room at once and go to bed. If I must, I will summon the maid to ensure you comply.”
In true Lydia fashion, she huffed and turned on her heel, marching into her room.
The slamming of the door behind her was a surprise to no one in the family.
For a moment, they stood in silence; Elizabeth did not know what the rest of her family was thinking, but she was considering the narrow escape, how much Lydia could have ruined if she had fled the house without detection.
“Oh, Mr. Bennet,” wailed Mrs. Bennet, though she had the sense to avoid waking all the servants, “whatever are we to do?”
“The danger has passed for the moment, Mrs. Bennet,” replied he. “But this event emphasizes the need for us to take Lydia in hand. Her improper behavior has now crossed dangerous lines—if she continues as she has, she may ruin herself and, by extension, all her family.”
Mrs. Bennet fretted and moaned, wringing her hands as the truth of the situation settled in.
If Lydia ruined herself, Mrs. Bennet’s cherished dreams of marrying her daughters to wealthy men would be at an end.
That alone would convince the Bennet matron of the need to reform their daughter, even if she did not understand the finer points of proper behavior.
“Do you believe her, Papa?” asked Elizabeth. “Did she tell the truth that there was no rendezvous planned with Mr. Wickham?”
Mr. Bennet shook his head in disgust. “Though she is as foolish a child as has ever lived, I suspect there was no planned meeting. Not only was she not carrying a trunk, but she was not wearing travel clothes.”
“I do not think even my sister is that foolish,” said Kitty.
Turning a smile on her, Mr. Bennet patted Kitty’s shoulder. “Lydia’s intention to go to Meryton in the early hours before dawn is evidence of her foolishness, my dear. We cannot be certain of anything.”
“What shall we do, Mr. Bennet?” repeated his wife, who appeared calm, other than a quaver in her voice.
“That is something I must think on,” said Mr. Bennet. “We shall discuss it when the matter of Mr. Wickham is concluded.”
Though she did not appear sanguine, Mrs. Bennet nodded. Mr. Bennet sighed and motioned for them to seek their beds.
“I cannot say if we will sleep anymore tonight, but it would be best if we retired. There is no longer any question of going to Meryton in the morning—I must learn what has become of Wickham and whether he still presents a danger.”
“Then I shall go with you, Papa,” said Elizabeth.
Mr. Bennet regarded her, amused. “I suppose I should have anticipated your wish to be involved, Lizzy.”
“This business has arisen because of my actions,” replied Elizabeth. “I shall not wait at Longbourn for you to return with news—I must have my part in it.”
This time, he chuckled at her insistence, and Elizabeth, thinking back on Lady Catherine, reflected on how much she had echoed the lady’s confident declarations.
She pushed the thought to the side, not bothered by it.
Elizabeth was not at all impressed by Lady Catherine, but the lady was a forthright, active sort of person.
In that respect, Elizabeth did not think she was at all different from the great Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
John, Longbourn’s footman, soon arrived, and when Mr. Bennet gave his instruction, he returned with a small cot, placing it near Lydia’s door and settling in for what remained of the night. Elizabeth returned to her room, hoping, rather than expecting, that she could again fall asleep.
PERHAPS DARCY SHOULD have expected it. Miss Caroline Bingley was not the sort of woman to allow anything contrary to her designs to pass without comment.
Confronted not only with the failure of her plan to separate her brother from Miss Bennet, but also her failure to lure Darcy into her web—this would not go unchallenged.